


Preparations

by laturprofarkalesari



Category: Cyborg 009
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-19
Updated: 2018-12-19
Packaged: 2019-09-23 01:55:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17071259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laturprofarkalesari/pseuds/laturprofarkalesari
Summary: Short Christmas-themed snippet from a story I wasn't able to finish, don't expect much of a plot or an ending.





	Preparations

Once Jet had closed the door behind himself, he stood still and completely silent for a few seconds. The complete lack of any noise, not to mention nobody coming by to welcome him, not even 001 greeting him in his thoughts, meant that he was the only person home in that moment.

Still, the main door was closed with only one turn of the lock and all windows had the shutters up, which meant that Gilmore and 003 were still around, just out doing some errands. He stood there for some time, wondering whether it would have been better to leave and come back in a few days, but eventually decided to pick up his suitcase and slowly reach the living room.

As he walked past the doorstep, it took him some time to get used to seeing that room completely empty. On the bright side, it meant that he had the place all for himself for at least a few more minutes, if not a couple of hours. He put his luggage down, walked to the couch and threw himself on it; he stretched his arms and legs, put his hands behind his nape and made himself comfortable.

Jet was about to kick his shoes off his feet, when he caught sight of something behind the armchair on the other side of the room. There was something light blue, a piece of fabric he hadn't noticed before, peeking from behind it. For a moment he had the impression it had just moved. He decided to ignore it, only to hear what sounded like a rustling sound. He turned his head and, once again, that thing had seemingly shuffled a bit.

He stood up and, moving with light and slow steps, reached the armchair. He hadn't taken his eyes off that thing for a single second, and finally saw it move once again, ever so slightly. Now that he was sure of what he had seen he no longer needed to be so careful, and decided to step forward with decision.

He had barely put his foot down, when a scream tore through the almost complete silence in the house: "Stop there, please!"

The words resounded in Jet's head for some time. At first he was scared because of how sudden that had been, but when he managed to snap out of it and realized whose voice it was, he was even more confused than before.

"003?" Jet blurted out.

"Please go away." She replied. "Just for ten minutes, then you can come back in the living room, I promise."

Now that he could hear her better, Jet noticed that she sounded somewhat anxious. "What's going on?" He asked.

"Nothing serious, I promise. I swear, absolutely." Françoise said, still speaking hastily. "I just need a few minutes to make myself presentable, that's all."

"Presentable? What's going on? Do you need help?" He asked, more and more confused.

"No, no, at all... but it's a long story, and..." She replied, her voice trailing off and getting weaker and weaker with every word. She then let out a loud sigh. "Just promise me you won't laugh."

Jet kept silent for a few seconds, unable to come up with any good guess of what could have been going on. "I won't laugh." He finally decided to say, to put an end to this situation and understand what was happening.

"Okay." She said. Slowly, she rose up from behind the armchair, her face red and flustered. What surprised him the most, however, was the way she was dressed: she was wearing a long, wide light blue and white dress, with white fur decorations over its hems, and had a strangely shaped cap that spread into a huge and finely decorated headdress. All Jet could do was look at her, deeply confused.

"Like I said, it's a long story. Please sit down." She said, almost a whisper.

As Jet was still trying to fully process what she had just said, someone else walked into the living room from the main door. "What's going on, 003?"

That was doctor Gilmore's voice, Jet realized. He turned around, and as soon as he had a good look at the older man he couldn't help himself, and started laughing loudly. The man was wearing a large red coat decorated with white fur that reached the floor, and was holding a long white staff. What had made him completely lose it, however, was the fake white beard he had over his natural one, so long it almost touched the ground. He burst out in laugh, pointing at the man.

"You had promised you wouldn't have laughed!" Françoise scolded him.

"002! What are you doing here?" The older man asked, not even waiting for the other to stop laughing.

It took Jet some time and a few deep breaths to calm down for good, and catch his breath enough to be able to talk. "What... what are you two doing, with those ridiculous--" He finally managed to say, interrupting himself when Gilmore hit him on the head with the staff.

"First you should tell us why you're already here." Gilmore commented severely. In the meanwhile Françoise had walked in front of him, next to the older man. Now that he could see her properly, Jet noticed that her outfit reached her knees, and under it she was wearing a pair of long white boots.

Jet massaged the spot where Gilmore had hit him, and gave the two a quick glare. Now that he could see the both of them in full figure, he was even more confused. "I got bored. All my friends were out of New York until the end of the year, so I decided to go somewhere else."

"Ah..." Françoise commented, with a small gasp.

"Now, about you two. What are those things you're wearing? Mardi Gras is still far away, you know..."

Gilmore swung his staff once again, but this time Françoise put her hand on the older man's and held it back. "It's just a surprise for Ivan, when he'll wake up." She said.

Jet looked at her, waiting a few seconds for her to go on. Eventually, it was Gilmore that started speaking again: "These are traditional Russian costumes, Ded Moroz and Snegurochka."

"Who?"

"Father Frost and the Snow Maiden." Françoise explained. "The Russian equivalent of Father Christmas and his assistant, basically."

"Father Christmas... oh yeah, Santa!" Jet commented, finally beginning to understand. He gave a look at Gilmore, and felt a bit embarrassed for not having understood that earlier. Then again, he wasn't used to imagining Santa in a coat that decorated. "But then why have you put those on now? Christmas was three days ago."

"In Russia Christmas is celebrated on the 7th of January." Gilmore said. "Besides, right now Ivan is in the middle of his sleeping cycle, we couldn't celebrate with him."

"Ah..." The other man mumbled.

"He even mentioned that before falling asleep, and said he was sad he couldn't pass the day with us this year." Françoise said, taking off her headdress. "So I thought about something else we could have done together. Doctor Gilmore explained me about the Russian celebration, and I thought we might have done it that way. I mean, it still counts." She explained, smiling as she spoke the last few words.

Jet thought about it for some moments; a part of him wanted to call it silly, but on the other hand he couldn't deny that there was something genuinely charming in that thought. "Yeah, I guess." He decided to reply. "And you really needed to buy those costumes for it?"

"She got a bit carried out with the whole idea." Gilmore replied.

"I might have, but you're the one who allowed me to order these with your credit card, doctor." Françoise commented, delicately putting the headdress on the armchair.

"In any case, we got these just this morning, so we decided to try them to see if they fit, or if we need to have some adjustments done." Gilmore quickly replied, his voice ostensibly covering her last words.

Jet and Françoise exchanged a quick glance, then both turned towards Gilmore. "Looks like there's going to be a lot of work to do on yours." Jet then said, looking at the older man.

For some moments, it looked like Gilmore was about to try to hit the other again with his staff; Jet couldn't not notice the way the stick was visibly shaking. However, all of a sudden, the doctor heaved out a long, loud sigh, and stood still. "I guess I'll just keep beard, hat and stick, and wear a red cardigan." He eventually said.

"Sadly we don't have the time to send the costume back." Françoise commented as she walked close to the older man and took the staff away from his hands. "But I'll definitely demand a refund. I had even sent them the doctor's exact measurements, just to be safe!"

"That's the risk you run when you can't see what you're buying with your own eyes before paying." Gilmore replied before taking off the fake beard and throwing it on the couch. "Well, at least your clothes fit."

"The shoulders are a bit large, actually..." She said.

"You can put some pads in there." Gilmore answered. "This thing, on the other hand..." He went on, taking the coat off.

Françoise put the staff down on the couch, then picked the coat from Gilmore's hands and, holding it by its shoulders, spread it. "You're right, sadly, it's just too long." She commented, giving it a careful look. She then turned her head towards Jet, then back at the red outfit. Noticing her, Gilmore looked at the other man as well.

"No way!" Jet replied, almost shouting. "Don't you even _think_ about that!"

"Well, traditionally Ded Moroz is supposed to be taller than his assistant..." Gilmore said, giving Jet a sly grin.

"He's also supposed to be her grandfather, right?" She replied.

"Hey!" Gilmore protested, and Françoise let out a small laugh.

**Author's Note:**

> Just a snippet from a story I was working on, but I couldn't find a good ending for it. I liked this part and decided to post it anyway as a small holiday treat, and to keep on working on more lighthearted stories.


End file.
